DENI UTE MUSTER ANNOUNCES, STAR STUDDED ALL AUSTRALIAN LINE UP

The Deni Ute Muster is one of the top bucket list events in Australia with around 18,000 patrons flocking to Deniliquin in southern New South Wales each long weekend. 

For 19 years the iconic Deni Ute Muster has been the Labour Day long weekend destination of choice for ute and music enthusiasts and September 29th-30th 2017 is set to deliver its biggest main stage line up ever for a mega weekend of fun, music, mateship and, of course, utes. Thanks to the AFL Grand Final Friday holiday, our Victorian friends get to join the fun with their own long weekend too.

Getting the party started as the sun sets over the plains on Friday will be Melbourne-based trio, Jetty Road. Identical twins Paula and Lee Bowman and Julian Sammut have a sound best described as a tapestry of pop and country, with a hint of folk – imagine The Corrs, Fleetwood Mac and The Dixie Chicks with a unique Australian flavour. Starting with their 2005 debut album, Full Circle, the trio has had a multitude of awards and accolades along the way with two Golden Guitars (CMAA), an APRA Award nomination, five Southern Star Independent Artist of Australia Awards and 10 number one charting songs to their name. With six albums under their belts including 2015’s Hearts on Fire, Jetty Road bring a contagious mix of country and pop/rock, all rolled into one, to this year’s Deni Ute Muster.

Next to take the stage will be Tamworth-born-and-raised, Hurricane Fall making their Deni Ute Muster debut. Hurricane Fall is a band of mates as much as it is a well-oiled musical unit. The band officially arrived on the country music scene in January with the release of their self-titled debut EP which landed them the No. 2 spot on the iTunes Country Music Charts. It’s a testament to the band’s already devoted following: built in large part on the back of their formidable reputation as a live act and we look forward to welcoming them to their first Deni Ute Muster in September.

James Blundell is unashamedly honest and comfortable in his own skin and radiates an enthusiasm for everything that life has to offer. It’s this authenticity that makes him one of the most instantly likeable and recognisable artists in Australian music. James was the first Australian country act to sign a major record label deal in Nashville, has penned hits for Lee Kernaghan, Slim Dusty and Jimmy Little and is the recipient of numerous Golden Guitar Awards, double platinum, platinum and gold sales awards as well as being a five-time ARIA Award nominee with one win to his name. 2017 has seen the launch of James’ 14th album, Campfire, and he’ll be joined onstage by Brewn, a dynamic young country/rock band whose sound, as well as their story, centres around good times, good music and good ole’ fashioned hard-work. James Blundell and Brewn – the perfect team to tear up the Deni Ute Muster stage on its opening night.

The Davidson Brothers live and breathe bluegrass. Experts on fiddle, banjo, and mandolin, Hamish and Lachlan have been making music together for over 20 years. Raised in Gippsland, the boys are regulars at folk, country, bluegrass and alternative festivals across Australia and have toured both the US and Europe. National Bluegrass champions and three-time Golden Guitar Winners, the Davidson Brothers recently recorded their eighth studio album All You Need Is Music in Nashville. Best known for their high-powered pickin’, fine vocal harmonies, and classic humour, these guys lead the way for the current acoustic-roots music revival in this country. The Deni Ute Muster welcomes the return of the “bluegrass wizards” to the main stage in 2017.

Sara Storer is one of Australia’s most-loved singer-songwriters, an ARIA and multiple Golden Guitar winner whose crisp observations of the Australian landscape and its people provide the solid foundation stone for her music. She has seen all the beauty, joy and heartbreak this land can bring, living for a time in western Queensland, where she wrote her first song, and working as a school teacher in Katherine in the Northern Territory. Sara has earned high praise from media and audiences alike for her ability to capture the essence of Australian life – its characters and distinctive landscape. John Williamson best sums it up: “Sara has a unique way of seeing and expressing her observations of love and life in the bush. So she is a songwriter that will be remembered beyond her lifetime”. And respected journalist and author Noel Mengel said, “It’s Sara’s crisp observations of the Australian landscape and its people that provide the solid foundation stone for her music. She has seen all the beauty, joy and heartbreak this land can bring. Images of Australia burn through Silos with all the clarity of an outback sunset”.

Country songstress Beccy Cole has delighted Australian listeners and concertgoers for more than twenty years. The Adelaide-born star’s glowing warmth, honeyed voice, bawdy sense of humour and perpetual smile have helped make Beccy one of the nation’s best-loved and most celebrated artists. With nine Golden Guitars to her name (including four for Female Vocalist of the Year), as well as multiple ARIA Top 10 Country and Top 40 Mainstream albums, a Top 10 DVD, three gold-certified releases, and more than a dozen No. 1 Australian country singles, Beccy Cole is one of Australia’s most successful singer-songwriters and we’re thrilled to welcome her back to the Deni Ute Muster.

Closing the party on Friday night is the original ‘boy from the bush’, Lee Kernaghan, who is celebrating his 25th Anniversary in 2017 and has been a stalwart of Australian Country Music since the 90s. Synthesising traditional country themes with his own brand of rural rock and images of an evolving regional culture, Lee has sold over two million albums in Australia with releases including Outback Club, Three Chain Road, 1959, Hat Town, Rules Of The Road, Electric Rodeo, New Bush, Ultimate Hits, Spirit Of The Bush, Planet Country, Beautiful Noise and 2015’s Spirit Of The Anzacs all achieving platinum or multi-platinum status. Lee is a four-time ARIA award-winning artist and in 2015 he was presented with the Australian Record Industry Award for Outstanding Achievement. Songs like The Outback Club, Boys from The Bush, Hat Town, She’s My Ute and Australian Boy are now modern day anthems for a generation of Australians living and working on the land.

Lee Kernaghan has achieved a staggering 35 #1 chart hit songs over his career and has been awarded 36 Golden Guitars. He has been named Hit Maker of the Decade, twice, in 2001 and 2011. This accolade is in recognition of Lee having more chart hits in Australia than any other country music artist in the world and he’ll be bringing a stack of them to the Deni Ute Muster in September.

The main stage arena entertainment kicks off on Saturday with the World Record Blue Singlet Count followed by the AFL Grand Final on the big screens. Footy fans are encouraged to bring along their team jersey and their favourite chair and join us in the main arena from 1.30pm on Saturday to see which team will win the 2017 AFL Premiership Cup.

The music will start with a bang when the Adam Eckersley Band kick off the final night’s entertainment. With the groove of Jerry Reed, the effortless cool of JJ Cale, the heart and soul of The Marshall Tucker Band, and the outlaw bite of Charlie Daniels, Adam Eckersley Band stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the tightest outfits in the business. Adam and the boys will have the Deni Ute Muster arena jumping with their thundering, shimmering slabs of rock, swamp, and soul.

Born and raised in Gympie Queensland, 21-year-old Caitlyn Shadbolt grew up immersed in music. A naturally gifted singer, accomplished guitar player and dynamic live performer, Caitlyn has all the qualities that form the basis of a credible and long-lasting career in music. Her 2nd long player, Songs On My Sleeve, is a personal album for Caitlyn who spent time in her hometown, Sydney, Nashville and Bali penning the songs. Produced with Andrew Cochrane (Veronicas), it’s an album of love, friends and relationship breakups but ultimately delivers some very positive messages. Songs On My Sleeve surprises and delights and heralds the arrival of this talented songstress in Australia and abroad. Don’t miss Caitlyn Shadbolt at the Deni Ute Muster this September – she’s a rising star in the truest sense!

The McClymonts have had a huge year in 2017 with their fifth studio album, Endless, debuting #3 on the ARIA Album chart and undertaking a highly successful national tour and Brooke, Sam & Mollie are looking forward to bringing their ‘Endless’ Tour to the Deni Ute Muster main stage. In addition to new songs, the girls will be performing a selection of hits spanning their 10-year career including Here’s To You & I, Kick It Up and Wrapped Up Good as well as some surprises, all delivered with their stunning trademark harmonies and beautiful onstage presence. The McClymonts are Australia’s #1 Country group with accolades including 10 Golden Guitar Awards, 2 ARIA Awards, an APRA Award as well as Gold selling albums and a string of #1 hit singles.

Drew McAlister has long been recognised as one of the nation’s premier songwriters and performers. The former McAlister Kemp mainstay has penned hundreds of tunes, both with and for artists from Graeme Connors to Luke O’Shea to Tamara Stewart, worked with U.S. songwriting royalty including Brett Jones (Jason Aldean) and Brian Maher (Taylor Swift) performed alongside the cream of Aussie country talent. After winning the Gympie Muster’s prestigious Maton Talent Search in 2003, McAlister netted his first Golden Guitar in 2007, taking home the Vocal Collaboration of the Year Award for A Little Bit of Country in Us All with Alan Caswell. He’s since collected Golden Guitars for Song of the Year and Heritage Song of the Year (for the Luke O’Shea co-write Lady of the Land), two CMC Music Awards, and garnered scores of APRA, TIARA, and Victorian National Country Music Awards wins and nominations.

Shannon Noll’s undeniable stage presence coupled with his staggeringly talented band turn up the heat on every stage they play. With certified triple-platinum sales, number #1 hits, five top 10 albums, 17 platinum and three gold accreditation, “Nollsie” boasts a reputation as the only Australian male artist in national chart history to have ever achieved ten consecutive top ten singles. So many have come and gone since Noll first came to Australia’s attention in 2003. Part of his longevity and public appeal has been his ‘what you get is what you see’ attitude. With the release of his single, Who I Am, in September 2016, Noll proved in true Aussie style that he knows what’s important. That he won’t back down when he’s right, and that he is comfortable with who he is. Based on the reaction to the video, which received over a million views, his fans know who he is too and continue to come out to see him in droves. As well as his live commitments, Nollsie is currently working on his next album which will, no doubt, only add to his success thus far. From farmhand to household name, Shannon Noll has never changed. Whether he is at the pub or in front of a 10,000 strong crowd at the Deni Ute Muster, he delivers that heart pumping, raw, rock performance, in a way that only he can.

Australia’s favourite country duo the Sunny Cowgirls never fail to deliver a cutting-out party to remember. Farm girls born-and-bred, Sophie and Celeste Clabburn burst onto the scene with their breakout debut album Little Bit Rusty in 2005. Since then, the 9-time Golden Guitar nominees have been entrancing audiences with their irresistible celebrations of mateship, hard work, and life and love in the Australian bush. They’ve performed everywhere from Tamworth to the Gympie Muster and CMC Rocks, collaborated with Sara Storer and Adam Brand, and released 7 studio albums, a live CD, and two DVDs. The duo’s most recent outing Here We Go (2016) debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Country Albums Chart. Add to that more than a little sly, winning humour – not to mention the sisters’ exquisite, trademark vocal harmonies – and it’s easy to see why the Sunny Cowgirls have long been the authentic voice of rural Australia and why we love having them at the Deni Ute Muster.

The Wolfe Brothers continue to ride the wave that started for them in mid-2012 when they captured the attention of the nation and were voted into second place in the final of the nationally televised show Australia’s Got Talent. Since the release of their debut album It’s On in January 2013, which spawned 3 Top 10 singles, The Wolfe Brothers have been on the road touring and playing to sell-out crowds across the country. It’s On earned them the recognition of their peers and saw them nominated for four Golden Guitar Awards at the 2014 Australian Country Music. In March of 2014, the band were presented with the trophy for CMC’s New Artist of the Year. Their 2nd album, Nothin’ but Trouble, and their 3rd, This Crazy Life, were both recorded in Nashville with both singles from the latter album hitting #1 on the National Country Radio chart and the CMC video chart. The album was nominated as a finalist in the 2016 ARIA Country Album Of The Year category. This was followed with two Gold Guitar nominations for the 2017 Australian Country Music Awards as finalists in The Group/Duo of the Year and also for Album Of The Year.

The MCs for the weekend are Yackandandah comedian and singer/songwriter, Pete Denahy and crowd favourites, Sunny Cowgirls.

The Deni Ute Muster isn’t just about the music and footy, as well as the return of family favourites including wood chopping and whip cracking demonstrations, the World Record Blue Singlet Challenge, Ute Count, Show N Shine, the Bull Ride Spectacular, organisers are pleased to announce the return of the Brophy Bros Circus, Matt Falloon and His Trained Balloons, camel rides and Circlework, Barrel Race and Go to Wo competitions to the entertainment menu.

For our young, and not so young, Musterers feeling energetic and up for a challenge, Bubble Soccer 2 U, Soccer Darts and the Bungee Run will be on site to keep them active and have a few laughs at the same time. For our littlest Musterers, the Family Centre will be open from 9am each day with free children’s activities including face painting, bubble blowing, stilt walking, hookey and much more. And a Deni Ute Muster wouldn’t be complete without the rides in Carnival Corner for our large and small adrenaline junkies.

Matt Mingay, Australia’s #1 Stuntrider and Extreme Sports Athlete and his son Madzy Evel, will be making their Muster debut entertaining crowds with their Off Road Show over the weekend. Matt is the Official Stuntrider for V8 Supercars, Formula 1, Rally, major Motorsport events and performs in front of 2.5 million people per year. Matt and Madzy will also be bringing along the Hot Wheels Trophy Truck to keep the kids entertained.

Another new attraction for our 19th birthday is the Reptile Awareness Display featuring 5 of the top 10 most venomous snakes in the world! Presenter Allan Burnett has many years of experience with snakes and aims to provide crucial information for the prevention of a snake bite as well as first aid of a bite, just in case …

And last but certainly not least, we’re introducing some of the finest entertainment you’ll see this year – miniature pig racing!! See these incredible trained miniature pigs as they race through obstacles to be first to the milk trough. With six shows per day, Musterers should make sure they arrive early for their chance to be part of the fun.

Tickets and reserved camping for the 2017 Deni Ute Muster have been selling well with Edward River Flat and Rice Paddy campsites both sold out. Attendees are urged to be quick to ensure they don’t miss out on reserving their team’s base.

In its first year (1999), the Deni Ute Muster had approximately 5,000 patrons and set a new Guinness World Record for the most number of legally paraded utes at 2,839 – a record which still stands today. Since 1999 the Deni Ute Muster has become the region’s biggest tourist drawcard and a celebration of all things Australian.

All Early Bird tickets are now sold out. General Admission tickets are available at www.deniutemuster.com.au

Deni Ute Muster

Conargo Road, Deniliquin, NSW

Friday, 29 September + Saturday, 30 September, 2017
 
Lee Kernaghan, Shannon Noll, The McClymonts
Beccy Cole, Sara Storer, Sunny Cowgirls
James Blundell and Brewn, The Wolfe Brothers
Caitlyn Shadbolt, Adam Eckersley Band, Hurricane Fall
Drew McAlister, Jetty Road, Davidson Brothers
and more to be announced
 
www.deniutemuster.com.au